Something's gotta give

Few things warm the heart more than a thoughtful gift — something painstakingly pursued and purchased in order to meet your needs or tickle your fancy. What makes a great gift? Something that makes you yell like crazy when you get it (like my first camera, which my parents purchased in the early ‘90s) or makes you laugh out loud (like the plastic red fez my friend Naz got me as a goof).

Which is why when I get those irritatingly anonymous presents, like the ubiquitous aromatherapy or potpourri set or the habitually recycled fruitcake, it makes me want to bury it in the cemetery of crap gifts. Of course, some would say that there is no such thing as a crappy gift. (“Be grateful” is what my mother always tells me.) But there are awesome gifts (like when my good pals Mark and Anna remembered that I adored Le Sportsac and got me something from the kitschy bag line) and there are good gifts (useful things like an eye mask or Kiehl’s Crème de Corp) and then there are the lame gifts (like a rayon thong purchased for P50 a pop that will give you a rash within minutes).

YStyle wanted to suggest something more fun than the usual beauty barrage (although those gifts are awesome, too). We asked the kids over at Everywhere We Shoot to select a few quirky items that won’t meet the same fate as those tasteless potpourri sets. The results? Lomo cameras that put the hoot in photo shoots, puzzles for the silly fortune tellers for the young at heart and insanely adorable alarm clocks for chronic snoozers.

No doubt, any recipient of the gifts mentioned would find that kitschy cameras or funky phone handsets trump blah presents any time.

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E-mail me at oohbea@gmail.com!